Almost Surreal
by IrresistibleAshGirl
Summary: "No, they couldn't know we were here. And even if they did, why would they follow us after all these years? It HAS to be a coincidence. I'll bet they won't even recognized us. We're safe." But I still worried that they would. AU Genderbent BxR YxY MxM SxJ
1. Prologue

_We were tired of it. Tired of classmates hating us just because we were rich. Tired of classmates trying to get close to use just because we were rich. Tired of our parents using us just to get richer. Tired of our betrothed never giving us the time of day. Tired of it always being about the money. Tired of it all. Just tired._

_So we saved up money; asked our parents for it. Not all at once of course. They'd definatly know something was up if we did that. No, we asked for a little at a time. A few hundred here, a few hundred there. Remember, we were very rich so a few hundred wasn't a big deal, even if it was every day that we asked, and our parents just threw the money at us. Anything to keep us out of their hair. We'd put the money in a bank account and after a year, we had about one and a quarter million dollars saved. Then we ran away. Not even any kind of warning or hints. Just packed up one night, bought a train ticket, and left. No one would truly miss us anyway. No one simply cared._

_We bought a house for us to share. Not too big, not too small, and in a lovely neighborhood. Just right for the four of us. We changed our names and enrolled in a public school down the street.__ We didn't really need to change our lifestyle all that much either. We had never really been snobby about our money and didn't spend a whole lot, even before. We all knew the money we had would have to last us until we were sixteen and could get a job. And it did. It lasted well past the years until we were sixteen._

_We were happy. We had each other. We had lots of new friends that like us for who we were, not the money we had. Everything was perfect. So very perfect it was almost surreal._

_At least, that's what we thought._

* * *

><p>So this is my first Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic. I hope I do good.<p> 


	2. The first day of the rest of our lives

So I changed it from five years to just three.

* * *

><p>"Wow!" an thirteen year old Yuugi exclaimed, "This is an amazing house!" It <em>was<em> an amazing house. It was a modern, white and red, two-story house in the middle of Domino City, Japan. The bottom floor had only three rooms; a kitchen, a half bathroom, and an indoor pool. On the top floor were the living room, the main bathrooms, and the four bedrooms. The living room had two of the walls replaced with floor-to-ceiling glass with a spiral staircase connecting it to the bottom floor. The room with the indoor pool was similar but every two feet, there would be a foot of wall.

"Isn't it?" Malik said, "Told you that you'd all like it. Now let's go inside."

And so we did. Currently, the house was empty. It'd take a lot of work to get the house to be a home to us, yet not much work at all. It didn't really matter what the _house_ looked like. It was home simply because we were all here. Though, that didn't stop us from wanting it to look the part. We set to work, at first doing our individual rooms, then working on the rooms we shared; the living room, the bathrooms, the pool room, and the kitchen. Five painful hours later and the house looked amazing, inside and out!

My room was at one end of the hallway. The room to the right of me was Yuugi's. Across from her's was Malik's room. Next, to Malik's was the living room. Across from the living room was Jounouchi's room and finally, at the other end of the hallway were two bathrooms.

The door of my room was a pale blue with nothing but a sign on it. Chou, it said. It was the name I'd chosen to be. Kimura Chou. Though, Chou wasn't much different from my real name. My real name is Bakura Ryou. So yeah, only two letters.

My room was an eight by sixteen rectangle with a blue and white theme. The walls were white with pale blue paneling on the bottom half. The floor was made of small squares of hardwood. My bed, against the middle of the right wall, had sheets with blue curtains hanging down from the top of its white wood frame. Across from the bed, on the left wall, was a window with a telescope looking out it. To the left of the telescope, on the front wall, was an asymmetrical bookshelf. To the right of the telescope, on the back wall, was my desk with my dresser next to it. I was easily the nerviest of our group but I didn't mind. I mean, _someone_ had to help Jounouchi with her math homework and it certainly wasn't going to be Yuugi or Malik.

I left my room and went to see how the others had decorated their rooms. They were done pretty predictably. Malik loved to make stuff with fabric, particularly clothes. The walls were mauve with a polka dot pattern about three fourths up and the floor was diagonal hardwood. On the immediate left of the door was a shelf filled with as much fabric as it could hold. Against the left wall was a desk with Malik's sewing machine on top. On each side of the desk was a mannequin. Next to that little set up, right by the bed, was a window with black curtains. On the back wall was Malik's black-framed bed with lavender and white sheets.

Yuugi's character was rather surprising to most people. She was the sweetest and most upbeat of us all. She was almost always happy and she _loved_ games and music. You wouldn't know that at first glance, though. Her style was very punk and her room looked no different. The floor was covered in a puzzle-like carpet in black, white, and two shades of dark purple. On both sides of the door were these huge amps though we all knew Yuugi would probably never use them. Tucked away next to one of the amps, against the right wall, was Yuugi's guitar. On the front wall, close to the left wall, was Yuugi's bed; purple wood frame with zebra print sheets. Across from the bed, on the back wall was a dresser and next to that was a desk with a computer.

Jounouchi was the sporty tomboy of all of us. She loved sports, especially soccer, and wasn't very good at academics, though I helped her with that. Her room reminded me of a hotel room, as there wasn't much in there. The walls were plain beige and the carpet was green. There was a bed across from the door on the back wall. Next to the bed was a dresser and across from that, on the front wall was a desk with a computer on it. There were a few posters on the wall of some sports stars. That was all, though I knew in a week or two the room would be covered in dirty clothes.

The living room was my favorite room in the house. The walls that were not glass (the right and back walls were the glass ones) were white on the top half and red brick on the bottom half. The floors were white hardwood. The TV was a flat screen in the middle of the room, not against a wall, close to the glass all, but far enough that if it fell over, it wouldn't fall through the glass. There was a couch and a couple of armchairs surrounding the TV. On the left wall were a few arcade style games; Tron, PacMan, and Galaga. Lastly, wherever there was room were some other games like foosball and darts.

Peering into the living room, I saw that Jounouchi and Yuugi were playing foosball (Yuugi was winning). I knew Malik would be in her room making some new outfit for one of us. I looked up at the clock and saw that it was a little past five so I decided to start dinner. We'd be having onigiri, I decided.

* * *

><p>What's up? I'm Ito Namu. Well my <em>real<em> name is Murakami Malik. That's the name I chose to be. Right now I'm in my room drawing some new clothes designs. It was fun to think of outfits to match all the different looks we had.

Jounouchi had blonde hair that went to her shoulders and chocolate brown eyes that always had a gleam of challenge in them. Originally, her hair was almost to her waist – an attempt by her parents to make her girly – but she cut it as soon as we left. The shorter hair looks better on her, though. She rarely wore anything besides tee-shirts and shorts. This made her outfits easy peasy to do. The only hard part was getting them to look at least a little girly without her noticing.

Unlike Jounouchi, Yuugi's were harder to to do as they were nothing like my normal girly style. I loved a challenge, though. Yuugi had a childish look about her mainly because she just screamed innocence. She was by far the shortest of all of us and her purple eyes always had a hopeful shine to them. When we left, Yuugi dyed her hair. She got really tired of plain old brown apparently. Now her multi-colored hair flowed down to the small of her back. The base of her hair was black with purple tips, while her spiky bangs were the same color as a dandelion.

I could never decide whether Ryou's clothes were hard or not. I was able to make her clothes pretty girly, but she liked clothes that made her look smart – a.k.a. button up shirts, slacks or pleated skirts, and cardigans. That's what made them hard, though. They were _boring_. I'd never tell that to her face, though it's not liked she'd care if I told her that. She'd just stay the Ryou that we all know and love. Ryou was the youngest and smartest of all of us. She was also the one that changed their appearance the least. Her hair stayed exactly the same – waist length hair that was naturally white and went well with her already pale skin. The only thing she changed was her eye color. She was born with bright, emerald green eyes, but she put colored contacts in to make them brown. I had to admit, brown eyes made her look a bit more refined while green eyes made her look more innocent. Both looked very pretty on her, though.

I'm Egyptian, so my skin is a lot tanner than everyone else's, and so of course my natural hair was black, but like Yuugi, I dyed it. Now it was platinum blond. My eyes were a rare lavender. And of course my clothes were easy. They were _mine_, after all.

I continued sketching. I was working on one for Yuugi. I drew a plaid skirt with a few studded belts hanging down. Then I added a plain white tube top with a panda crop jacket over it. Some platform boots and striped socks were put in as shoes.

Then I heard Ryou calling saying that dinner was ready. I put my pencil down and set some colored pencils out so that after dinner, I could work on coloring it.

I wonder what Ryou made. I hope it's koshary.

* * *

><p>Ryou makes amazing food. Did you know that? Well, now you do. The name's Yamamoto Usagi. A.k.a. Mutou Yuugi. I sat on my bed and opened my nightstand drawer. Inside was a photo of me and my grandpa. Leaving my grandpa was my only regret because without me there to defend him, my parents would just put him in a nursing home. We've been gone a week so they probably already have. I began to think about my parents. I didn't miss them at all, I realized. I figured I'd miss them at least a little bit, but I realize I feel free. Like I have a choice. It feels nice...<p>

I began to think of my friends and why we left. Reasons shifted depending on who you were talking to. My main reason is that I was loved and hated _just_ because I was rich. There were a few minor reasons, but take away main reason and I really couldn't complain. Jounouchi's reason is that she was being used by her parents. Jounouchi was in an arranged marriage with the heir of the wealthiest family in Japan. So when Jounouchi got married, the money of that family would also be her parent's money. Now granted, we were _all_ in arranged marriages, but I was put in one simply because my parents worried about me marrying some guy who would try to take advantage of me. Ryou was put in one just so her parents could get rid of her when the time came. We've met the boys before. I could got along pretty well with the guy my parents put me with but the same couldn't be said for the rest of them. Jounouchi would fight with her betrothed every time they even talked to each other. Ryou was just plain out ignored by her's. Malik had a totally different story, though. Her reason for leaving was that her betrothed always ignored her. Just _ignored_. He was always flirting with other girls. That hurt her a lot because even though he ignored her, she liked him. Like actually _liked_. She left so she could get over him and so far, I think it might be working. She hasn't said a word about him. Ryou was similar to Jounouchi. Her parents didn't care at all about her. She was just an excuse to get richer through marriage. (Ironically, she was also the most reluctant to go. The idea to run away was Malik's. Jounouchi and I immediately agreed. Ryou was a very obedient girl, unlike us, so it took some convincing to get her to go but in the end, she'd never be without her friends. Anyway,) Ryou's case was a little worse though. Jounouchi's parents stopped caring when she was ten so she had at least felt love in her life. Ryou, on the other hand, did not. This was mostly because she was an accidental child and her parents were too young to know how to properly take care of a child. Her mother was only 19 – her father was 20 – when she was born. She was never wanted.

I'm sorry but I'm going to stop telling you this now. I'm starting to cry. How about I tell you about how we met! Ok well, it was March 23rd. Jounouchi and Malik were six while Ryou and I were five. Our parents were all sponsoring this 'Help New Orleans' project together so they put some assistants to watch over us. Kind of like a day care. That's how we met! Ok, it was nothing all that special but it was special to us. Our parents could hardly get us away from each other to go home. None of us wanted to leave. Our parents got together for this project once a week so it wasn't long before we were all best friends. We've been together ever since. We'd go everywhere and anywhere we could together and if one couldn't go, none of us would go.

Isn't that such a nice story? I think it is.

Tomorrow we start school. We'll be going to Domino Junior High and luckily, we're all in the same class – 1-C. I hope we make lots of new friends. I'd be very sad if we didn't.

Suddenly, a wave of tired swept over me. I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 10:00. Wow! I didn't think I'd stayed up that late. I probably should get some sleep now.

* * *

><p>I awoke at 7:00 to my alarm clock. I got up and went over to the mirror above my dresser and started brushing my blonde hair. "Remember," I told myself, "I'm Satou Rin, now. <em>Not<em> Katsuya Jounouchi. Remember. Remember." It was hard to remember that, though. Suddenly changing to a new name, it's a little hard. I'm sure the other three won't have as much of a problem remembering as I will, though. They're a lot smarter than me, but I'll do my best. I got dressed in my new school's uniform, which was a blue plaid skirt and a yellow blazer, and went down stairs. Malik was already down there with Ryou, who was working on breakfast and our lunches. The smell of pancakes filled the air. Rice was in the rice cooker for our bento boxes. I started to help by getting plates and utensils out.

Yuugi came racing down the stairs like a dog in those dog food commercials. "I smell pancakes. I smell _pancakes_!" Have I ever mention that pancakes were Yuugi's favorite breakfast? No? Oh, ok. Well, now I have.

Ryou giggled as she placed a plate overloaded with pancakes. "Well, aren't you lucky? I just finished making them." Malik grabbed the butter and syrup from the fridge and we all sat down to eat.

"These are amazing, Ryou!" I exclaimed. Not that I was surprised. I knew she was an amazing cook. I just felt the need to praise her.

"Why, thank you, Jounouchi!" She replied back but then she stopped. "I'm sorry. I mean _Rin_."

"Oh, yeah," Malik said, "We need to start using our new names."

"Yeah, you're right," I said, "I mean, these are amazing, Chou."

Ryou giggled in reply. Then we heard a ding and Ryou gasped. "Oh geez, I almost forgot about our lunch." She jumped up and immediately got back to work pausing every once in a while to eat some more of her breakfast. Soon we were all finished, our plates put in the dishwasher and the dishwasher started.

"We should go now," Malik said as she registered the time that was on the clock in her mind.

"Yeah," Ryou replied, "We wouldn't want to be late on our first day." Yuugi and I nodded and we all went out the door, our backpacks slung over our shoulders.

* * *

><p>The school wasn't far away. The walk was less than 10 minutes. The school was pretty big for a junior high. We went inside and searched for the main office. It took a while and we had to ask a lot of people for help, but we got there. The secretary gave us our schedule and the office aid helped us find our class, but we only got to class just in time.<p>

"Class," we heard the teacher say from inside the class room. We were currently outside the classroom waiting for our queue. "We have some new students, today." Jounouchi opened the door and we all went in. "I'm Ishii. Please introduce yourselves."

Yuugi stepped up first. "What's up? Yamamoto Usagi is my name."

Malik went up next. "I'm Ito Namu."

Then Jounouchi. "The name's Satou Rin. Don't get it wrong."

Lastly, it was me. "My name is Kimura Chou. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Well girls," Ishii-sensei said, "It's good to have you all in my class."

"It's good to be in your class, Sensei," we all said in unison. This made the teacher sweatdrop.

"Umm thank you. There are five empty seats. Take whichever one you want."

The desks were arranged six across and five down. The last column, the five desks closest to the window, was the empty one. That was nice. Malik took the second seat, Jounouchi took the fourth, Yuugi took the third, and of course, I took the front seat.

"Alright," Ishii-sensei said, "Now that _that's_ done, turn to page 394.

The teacher started talking but I droned out a bit. I already knew about the Salem Witch Trials. I could even name when the first one took place. I heard a noise next to me.

"Psst! Chou!" the girl next to me whispered. She had shoulder length brown hair and bight aqua eyes. I looked at her and whispered back. "What is it?"

"I just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Mazaki Anzu." she said.

"Oh," I replied putting on a smile, "It's nice to meet you Anzu."

She smiled back, "Would you and your friends like to have lunch with me and my friends?"

Malik must have been listening in because before I could answer she replied to Anzu, "We'd love to!"

Anzu's smile got wider. "Cool!" Then she turned away and started to take notes on what Ishii-sensei was saying. I looked back at Malik who gave me a thumbs up. I giggled a looked back up at the board.

* * *

><p>After first period, we all decided to meet up at the doors to the cafeteria. I was already there with Malik, Anzu, and one of Anzu's friends, Kujaku Mai. Mai was a year older than us. She had violet eyes and blonde hair that waved like lightning. Anzu was still waiting on some other friends of hers.<p>

"Hey, Anzu! Hey, Mai!" Speak of the devil. One of her friends ran up dragging along a boy. The girl was a year younger than us with very short spiky brown hair with a layer of a lighter brown highlight and hypochromatic eyes – one yellow and the other green. The boy she was with had black hair that spiked up in selective places. Blonde streaks were seen at the bottoms of these spikes. Gracing his face were dark blue eyes and a weird tattoo going from the bottom of his right eye (left to him), across his cheek to the bottom of his face. He looked to be about the same age as Mai. "Who are they?" the girl asked.

"This is Kimura Chou," she gestured to me and then to Malik, "And this it Ito Namu. They and two of their friends are new in our class and they're going to have lunch with us."

"Cool! The more the merrier!" she cheered, "I'm Yuki Judai and this is Fudo Yusei." 'Yusei' simply said hello. Clearly, he was the serious type.

A few seconds later Yuugi and Jounouchi arrived. Introductions were said again and after we went inside the cafeteria, sat down, ate our lunches and talked away. Well, everyone except Yusei. He didn't talk much… We learned that Anzu wanted to be a Broadway dancer. Mai did some acting here and there mainly as minor characters and when she graduates, she going to do full time acting. Judai and Yusei weren't sure what they wanted to do after they finished school.

I was really happy at the end of the day. Already, we had made new friends. It was the first day of the rest of our lives.

* * *

><p>I ran out of character, ok. Don't be mean. I like Judai. Can't say anything about Yusei, though. I've never watched Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.<p>

Cake to anyone who knows why I picked Malik's fake name as Namu. Cake and _ice cream_ to anyone who can point out all the references in this chapter. Some aren't that obvious. Some _I_ may not even be able to point out.

Oh and I need two things. 1) I need beta readers. Not necessarily badly. I'm usually pretty good at spotting mistakes but something might slip by and I need someone to catch that. Already, I've noticed some mistakes in chapter one and I'm fixing those now but I won't always catch them. And 2) I need some OCs. Not a lot. They'll be used as friends and enemies but they won't really be main characters. Some may be major characters, though.


	3. Go to hell, Ra!

Do I honestly need a disclaimer? Obviously, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. This is _fan_fiction. Meaning that I'm a fan.

* * *

><p>Today is July 3rd. It's been exactly three years since we left our parents. We'd gotten over things pretty well. Yuugi stopped worrying about whether her grandfather would be put in a nursing home or not after six months. Well, I'm sure she still does worry, she just doesn't say anything. Malik got over her heartbreak after a few months. We hardly talk about our old life. We even use our fake names when no one's around, because know that <em>this<em> is our life now. No point in being stuck in the past.

In some ways, we split paths. We were still best friends, but everyone had their own little clique that they hung out with. Jounouchi is captain of the girls' soccer team at Domino High, our high school. She tends to hang out with her teammates, who hang out with the boys' soccer team. Judai is on the team with her. Malik ended up being one of the popular girls. She, along with Anzu, became cheerleaders and is now dating this guy that's on the soccer team. His name is Hiroshi. Yuugi...well, Yuugi's not necessarily _popular_ but she's not _unpopular_ she's kind of in between, like a normal high schooler actually is. On the other hand, she _did_ have plenty of friends.

As for me, I was the unnoticed one. The nerd. The kid at the bottom of the food chain. Whatever you want to call it, that's where I was. Though, people mainly didn't like me because I was known for being a teacher's pet. Which I was, but that didn't mean they needed to hate me for it. They could _ask_ me for help and then _they'd_ know the answers to everything, too, but no, they just had to go and pick on me because they don't study. Well whatever, it's just high school.

"Guys!" I yelled throughout the house, "Wake up!" I got three different groans in reply. I sighed and went back into my room. I reappeared with the mug and spoon that I had brought up last night for tea. Then I proceeded to walk up and down the hall banging the spoon to the mug.

_Cling. Cling. Cling. Cling. Cling._

I heard three more groans. I heard shuffling from Yuugi's room telling me she'd given up on sleep. One down, two to go, but Yuugi was always the easiest. I had to get more creative for the other two. I pondered how I would get their attention while I continued to hit the mug. Then an idea came to me. It was a little risky, but it might work. Then I thought about who was easier to wake up, Malik or Jounouchi. Malik was by far easier. Suddenly, I stopped banging the much and threw the spoon at Malik's door and the mug at Jounouchi's door. Luckily, the mug didn't break, but it did leave a small dent in her door. I heard two small yelps at the contact to the door.

"Score!" I said. I think that was my fastest yet. Then I went down stairs to start making breakfast. I got out a pan, eggs, and some bread. French toast was Jounouchi's favorite breakfast, despite her not being….well, French. Not long after I was finished, Yuugi came down into the kitchen, followed by Jounouchi. Malik was probably still up there putting make-up or whatever.

"Oooh! French toast!" Yuugi and Jounouchi exclaimed. I giggled and put a plate on the table filled with as much slices of fried egg cover bread as the plate would hold (which fortunately also happened to be the amount the egg mixture made). The three teens got some plates for themselves, and one for Malik who _still_ wasn't down yet, and helped themselves.

Shortly after we started eating Malik came rushing down the stairs. "Hey, guys," she said as she jumped in her chair and threw some toast on her plate.

"Morning, Namu," the three others of us said. Well, it was more like an echo based on who was more awake; Me, Yuugi, and finally Jounouchi.

"Namu," Yuugi said, "You look happier today than usual. Did something happen?" I noticed this too, and by the look on Jounouchi's face, she had as well.

Malik's face just lit up. Not like a light bulb, more like a star… She was grinning just that much.

"Yeah, actually, Usagi," she said. You could almost see her bouncing up and down in her mind. "It was after you guys went to sleep, so I couldn't tell you, but late last night, a moving truck stopped at the house next door. It was too dark to see any details, but I think there were four people, and at least two of them looked like they were teens." I could see how this would make her happy. New people meant new friends and Malik and Yuugi _loved_ to make friends.

"Wow!" Yuugi exclaimed. Her face lit up, too. "Maybe they'll go to our school."

"That's what I was hoping," Malik said. Even Jounouchi was getting a little excited. I wasn't though. New people just meant more people to ignore me so it really didn't make a difference to me. I tried to look happy about it anyway.

"Speaking of school," I said, "We should get going."

Jounouchi groaned for the third time today. "Can't we just skip?"

We laughed. "Rin, you ask that every day," Yuugi said to her, "The answer is still no." Jounouchi pouted but didn't say any more on the subject.

I walked over to the door, grabbed my messenger bag, and gestured to the door. The other three got their bags and followed me out the door.

I looked to the house Malik said the new neighbors were in. I was hoping to see what they looked like but all I saw was a tuft of white hair as their car door closed. Oh well. Maybe I'll see them later today.

The walk to school was only a little longer than that of our middle school. I stayed silent the whole way. Not really for any particular reason, I just didn't have anything to say on the topic that going on. Malik stayed silent, too. She was about as keen on it as I was. Yuugi and Jounouchi were happily talking about this new game. Some dice game called Dungeon Dice Monsters. Yuugi liked it a lot, while Jounouchi didn't think of it as any more than a carbon copy of this really popular card game that all four of us liked to play called Duel Monsters. I could see her reasoning. Some of the monsters are the same and the basic game play was similar. The only difference was that Dungeon Dice Monsters used dice. It seemed like a fun game, though, and I'd really like to play.

By the time we got to school, they switched from Dungeon Dice Monsters to DDR. How they started talking about a dancing game is beyond me, but this _is_ Yuugi and Jounouchi. They could never keep a subject for more than ten minutes.

Anzu, Judai, Mai, and Yusei were waiting for us by the main stairs. Judai opened her mouth to say hi, but the bell cut her off causing her mouth to close into a pout. We laughed. "Sorry, Judai," Jounouchi said.

"Well, I'm going to say it anyway!" she said, "Hi, Rin, Namu, Chou, and Usagi. Hahaha! I win!"

The eight of us laughed then said our 'See you later's and went on our way. The four of us and Anzu all had the same homeroom. We took our seats and started talking to whatever friends we had in that class. The tardy bell rang and our teacher, Tanaka-sensei, walked in. "Hello, class," she said.

"Hello, sensei," the whole class replied.

She smiled and announced, "Today we have four new students so I'd like you all to be kind to them. Alright?"

"Yes, sensei," the class said.

"Good," she said. Two boys walked into the classroom. One boy looked kind, but confident. He had sharp, purple eyes and hair that was similar, but crazier than Yuugi's. I admit, I never thought it'd be possible, but apparently, it was. His star-shaped hair was jet-black with reddish-purple tips. Pieces of yellow hair formed jagged bangs and streaks that shot up through the main body of his hair. The second boy's aura was equally as confident, if not a little cocky, but hardly kind at all. His stone cold expression had icy blue eyes to match. His hair was a lot more normal than the first's being a plain brown but it was still a little long for a guy. The third guy had really tan skin. His violet eyes seemed to look into the souls of every student when he looked at them. His wild, beach blond hair contrasted against his skin greatly. The last guy was albino. His snow white hair was long and went to the small of his back. Ruby red eyes graced his face. My eyes widened and I heard Yuugi gasp in shock. Malik dropped her book and Jounouchi's trembling was almost unnoticeable to anyone besides us. Oh yeah, we recognized them, all right.

No, they couldn't know we were here. And even if they did, why would they follow us after all these years? It HAS to be a coincidence. I'll bet they won't even recognized us. We're safe. But I still worried that they would.

I don't think I'm making sense. Am I? Well obviously, we knew these boys. The problem is is that these boys are four of the very reasons we came here. And now they were back. This was going to hit Malik the hardest – that we all knew – but it was still a painful reminder of all that we had wanted to get away from. Besides, if they were here, doesn't that mean their _parents_ were here, too? Maybe not at the school, but in the city? Even if the boys didn't recognize us, surely their parents would. Then they'd tell _our_ parents and our parents would take us back and we'd be miserable again and we'd have to marry those guys and and and... Ok, Ryou calm down. They haven't even said their names yet. They could just be four guys who look like them.

"Please introduce yourselves," Tanaka said.

The boy with the tri-colored hair did so first. "My name is Sennen Yami. Pleasure to meet you."

No.

Then the brown-haired boy stepped up. "Kaiba Seto."

Why us?

The ganguro(1) winked. "Yo. The name's Ishtar Mariku. Hope we get along well," he said seductively.

Fuuuuuuuck!

Lastly, the albino teen introduced himself, "I'm Youtai Bakura."

WHY DOES RA HATE US!(2) I had no doubt in my mind that it was them and needless to say, I was starting to panic.

Tanaka smiled at the four boys, "It's good to have you in our class. Hmm..." Her eyes scanned the classroom. There were a few more than four seats available so she had quite a few to pick from. "Yami, I'd like you to sit next to Sakura." The girl behind Yuugi raised her hand to show who she was. Yami then walked over and took the seat to the right of her. "Seto, take the seat in front of Honda." Honda, one of Yuugi's friends, was seated on the other side of the room from us, near Anzu. "Mariku, sit next to Anzu." Anzu looked slightly vexed that the boy would be sitting next to her. Almost immediately Mariku started to flirt with her but she rolled her eyes and shoved him away. "Bakura, sit behind to Chou." I groaned. He sat down behind me. "Hi," he said.

"Shove off," I replied.

He rolled his eyes. "Nice to meet you, too, Chou."

He left me alone after that probably listening to the lecture the teacher was giving about parallelograms. Or falling asleep. Yeah, that seemed more likely.

* * *

><p>1) Ganguro is a fashion trend that started in Japan. In contradiction to the traditional Japanese concept of beauty by having pale skin, dark hair, and neutral makeup tones, rebellious youth tanned their skin, bleached their hair, and used colourful makeup.<p>

2) I know this is AU, but I'd rather not use "God" in my stories. Don't wanna piss anyone off, now do we? ;D

Bakura seems slightly OOC... Maybe it's just me. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, review, blah blah blah, etc.


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